20,000 African elephants killed for ivory in 2013
Play
Geneva - International conservation measures were not able to significantly reduce poaching of African elephants last year, when more than 20,000 animals were killed to harvest their ivory, according to the international endangered species watchdog CITES.
Last year's figures were similar to 2012, the secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) said in a report in Geneva.
"Africa's elephants continue to face an immediate threat to their survival from high levels of poaching for their ivory," CITES secretary general John Scanlon said, noting that illegal killings exceed natural growth rates.
DPA
